Techniques for planning a conference using location data

ABSTRACT

Techniques for scheduling a conference among multiple persons include receiving quorum data and location data. Quorum data indicates a quorum for a particular conference. Location data indicates locations of a plurality of persons who satisfy the quorum. A proposed location for the particular conference is determined based on the location data and the quorum data. These techniques allow location data to include presence data that describes a current location of a person or a state of communication of that person; and therefore allow presence data to be used in determining where to conduct a conference and when. For example, an organizer of a meeting and meeting invitees are notified when the people constituting a quorum cross paths at the same location, or are situated at sites that support remote conferencing.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit as a divisional application to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/984,402, filed Nov. 9, 2004, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/931,737,filed Sep. 1, 2004 (hereinafter Ethier). The entire contents of theabove applications are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully setforth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to using availability data shared amongusers to schedule conferences (including meetings) among users, and inparticular to schedule a conference based on location data, such aspresence data.

2. Description of the Related Art

A number of software applications are available for schedulingconferences among busy members of an organization. For example, acommercial meeting scheduling application is available from MeetingMaker Inc. of Waltham, Massachusetts; and from Latitude of Santa Clara,Calif. (a subsidiary of Cisco Systems Inc. of San Jose, Calif.). Theseapplications have in common a database that stores information relatedto a calendar of conferences and appointments each member is scheduledto attend. Such a database is herein called a shared electroniccalendar. For purposes of the following discussion, the term conferenceincludes any simultaneous coming together of multiple parties forcommunication, whether involving a meeting held in person or involvingremote communications, including data, audio, video, or multi-mediacommunications, or some combination of in-person meetings and remotecommunications.

For example, some systems allow a conference organizer user (the“organizer”) to specify a list of mandatory attendees and a list ofoptional attendees from the organization. The scheduling application(“scheduler”) then determines one or more proposed times that all themandatory attendees can attend a meeting based on data in theorganization's shared electronic calendar. The proposed times arepresented one at a time in chronological order. The scheduler also liststhe optional attendees who are also available to attend each proposedtime. The organizer then sends a message to the selected attendees forone of the proposed times, inviting them to attend the meeting.

While greatly simplifying the task of finding times when a limitednumber of persons are available for a conference, the existing systemsstill suffer some deficiencies.

For example, under some circumstances, such as when the list ofmandatory attendees is large, the first proposed time may be too distantto be useful for the purposes of the conference. For example, thepurpose of the meeting may be to determine what research results topresent at an upcoming scientific convention. When the first proposedtime is too close to, or after, the start of the convention, the firstproposed time is not useful for accomplishing the purpose of themeeting. The existing systems do not give an organizer sufficientautomatic choices to resolve such a scheduling conflict.

One approach would be for an organizer to identify one or morerepresentative groups of persons without requiring a particular memberof the group to attend.

For example, suppose that a conference is desired to determine whatresearch to present at a scientific convention on the topic of possiblepriori-based diseases above and beyond bovine spongiform encephalopathy(also known as “Mad Cow” disease). In this example, the determinationrequires the attendance of a scientists in six disciplines includingdiscipline A (protein biochemistry), discipline B (poultry and wild gamebird biology), discipline C (domesticated and wild game swine biology),discipline D (domesticated and wild bovine biology), discipline E(ichthyology), and discipline F (medical pathology). Furthermore, inthis example, the organization includes two scientists in eachdiscipline, but due to their busy schedules, as reflected in theirelectronic calendars, all twelve of these scientists cannot convene fora joint conference until after the scientific convention. Only oneperson of each pair of scientists in each discipline need attend thepre-convention conference. Thus a minimum of six scientists are neededfor a quorum, provided they represent the six disciplines. There are 2⁶(i.e., 64) combinations of minimum conference attendees which areacceptable in this example.

With extant scheduling systems, an organizer has to enter all 64combinations manually and obtain one or more proposed dates for eachcombination. Then the organizer would have to review the 64 or morepossible dates and select a best one, e.g., the earliest. This is atedious, time consuming, and error-prone process. In most instances, theorganizer would try a few of the 64 combinations and then either give upor settle for a date that is not optimal.

Even if the organizer perseveres through 64 manual combinations, therestill may be no proposed date that is sufficiently before the scientificconvention to allow the issue of interest to be addressed and actedupon. The current systems do not resolve conflicts, e.g., the currentsystems do not identify which group or groups are most responsible forcausing the greatest delay and do not offer to management an approach toresolve the conflict.

For some conferences, location matters. For example, for conferences inwhich participants are to meet face to face, the participants need toconvene at the same location. An opening in a person's schedule on thesame day does not allow the conference to be held if those persons areseparated geographically such that they cannot travel to and from themeeting within the open time window. For example, an in-person meetingscheduled for an available morning time slot can not be conducted if oneperson is in California and the other is in New York. This informationis not available in extant scheduling systems.

Even meetings held using teleconferencing equipment might depend onlocation in that not every location where potential attendees reside hasappropriate teleconferencing equipment. The location of the personsrelative to the location of the teleconferencing equipment should alsobe considered, and this information is not available in extantscheduling systems.

Furthermore, even if persons for a teleconference are appropriatelylocated near teleconferencing equipment, that equipment may not beconfigured for the particular teleconference. For example, there mayteleconferencing equipment available in a New York City office, a SanJose Calif. office and a San Diego office capable of supporting aplanned audio-video teleconference among those three offices. However,it might be the case that the New York City office equipment isconfigured for teleconferencing using voice only with offices in London,Antwerp, Paris, Munich and Milan; while the San Jose office equipment isconfigured for video teleconferencing only with a Tokyo office. Thereservation of a conference bridge with the correct bandwidth and numberof ports and the assignment of a toll-free number (e.g., area codes of800, 866, 877, 888) or internet address and meeting code must all beperformed to connect the New York and San Jose offices to each other.This task usually falls on the organizer or an agent of the organizerusing an entirely separate teleconference configuration application.

The bandwidth demands of voice and data transfers are vastly differentfrom each other and from a complete multi-media teleconference(including audio, video, chat and data). Chat, widely used in the art ofremote communications includes any near real-time exchange of data, suchas text, between two communicating parties. A multi-media conferencebetween the New York, San Jose and San Diego offices requires not onlyreconfiguration of the office equipment at those locations but alsoreconfiguration of the network to provide sufficient quality of servicealong paths among network nodes between the three offices conducting theteleconference. If not enough bandwidth is reserved, applications runslowly, which can render time-sensitive applications like live voice andlive video useless. If too much bandwidth is reserved, valuableresources are wasted.

Clearly, there is a need for a conference scheduling system that doesnot suffer the deficiencies of current conference scheduling systems.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are notnecessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued.Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches describedin this section are not to be considered prior art to the claims in thisapplication merely due to the presence of these approaches in thisbackground section.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Techniques are provided for scheduling conferences based on locationdata. These techniques include receiving quorum data and location data.These techniques allow location data to include presence data thatdescribes a current actual location of a person; and therefore thesetechniques allow presence data to be used in determining where toconduct a conference and when. For example, an organizer of a meetingand meeting invitees can be notified when the people constituting aquorum cross paths at the same location, or are currently situatedwithin reach of sites or equipment that support remote conferencing.

In a first set of embodiments, a method for scheduling a conferenceamong multiple persons includes receiving quorum data and location data.Quorum data indicates a quorum for a particular conference. Locationdata indicates locations of persons who satisfy the quorum. One or moreproposed locations for the particular conference s determined based onthe location data and the quorum data.

In some embodiments of this set, receiving location data includesreceiving presence data that describes a current location of a person;and determining the proposed location includes determining one or morelocations based on the presence data. In some of the embodiments usingpresence data, determining a proposed location for the particularconference includes determining one or more locations for an ad-hocconference near the current time. In some other embodiments usingpresence data, determining a proposed location for the particularconference includes determining a proposed time for the particularconference when all persons who satisfy the quorum are located withinthe same vicinity based on the presence data and choosing as theproposed location a location in the same vicinity. In some other ofthese embodiments, determining the proposed location for the particularconference includes receiving data indicating a particular set of one ormore vicinities, and determining a proposed time for the particularconference based on the presence data when all persons who satisfy thequorum are located within the particular set of vicinities.

In some embodiments of the first set, receiving location data includesreceiving planned location data that indicates a planned location for aperson for a future time; and determining the proposed location includesdetermining the proposed location based on the planned location data. Insome of these embodiments, determining the proposed location for theparticular conference includes receiving data indicating a particularset of one or more vicinities, and determining the proposed time for theparticular conference based on the planned location data when allpersons who satisfy the quorum are located within the particular set ofvicinities.

In some embodiments of the first set, determining the proposed locationfor the particular conference includes determining multiple locationsthat support remote conferencing among the persons who satisfy thequorum. In some of these embodiments, a network node is configured basedon the multiple locations to support remote conferencing among thepersons who satisfy the quorum.

In some embodiments of the first set, invitation data that indicates theproposed location for the particular conference is sent to the personswho satisfy the quorum.

In a second set of embodiments, a method for scheduling a conferenceamong multiple persons includes receiving quorum data and availabilitydata. The quorum data indicates a quorum for a particular conference.Availability data indicates availability of a plurality of persons whosatisfy the quorum for attending the particular conference. A proposedplurality of locations that support remote conferencing among theplurality of persons for the particular conference is determined basedon the availability data and the quorum data. One or more network nodesare configured based on the plurality of locations that support remoteconferencing among the plurality of persons who satisfy the quorum.

In a third set of embodiments, a method for scheduling a conferenceamong multiple persons includes receiving quorum data, availabilitydata. The quorum data indicates a quorum for a new conference. Theavailability data indicates availability of persons who satisfy thequorum and whether a particular person can communicate remotely at atime within a duration of a previous commitment for that person. A timeis determined for the new conference with the particular person duringthe previous commitment. The new conference is conducted using remotecommunications with the particular person.

In other sets of embodiments, computer readable media and systemsperform the steps of the above methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by wayof limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in whichlike reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates a system with data andservers for scheduling a conference, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram that illustrates a method for scheduling aconference, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates a system for using presencedata, according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system upon whichan embodiment of the invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method and apparatus are described fur scheduling a conference. In thefollowing description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, wellknown structuresand devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

Embodiments of the invention are described in the context of using datafrom an electronic calendar, but the invention is not limited to thiscontext. In other contexts, other data may be used instead of or inaddition to data from an electronic calendar, such as flat files ordatabases of scheduled conferences and attendees, of electronicpersonnel travel requisitions, of data describing communication devicesassigned to or associated with personnel, of data indicating thepresence of a user on a network (called herein “presence data”)including a wireless network, a large area network, the Internet or acellular telephone network, and of data indicating resources scheduledfor a conference, such as network equipment, conference room, andconference room equipment.

Presence data is used in several extant and emerging applications. Forexample, in instant messaging applications, such as AOL InstantMessenger (AIM) from America Online of Dulles, Virginia and PresenceWorks of Presence Works, Inc in Alexandria Va., presence data indicatesthe instantaneous knowledge that someone is available online andreachable via instant messaging. More broadly, presence data indicates adynamically changing set of channels, capabilities, characteristics,preferences and ability for persons to communicate and interact witheach other at the current time. See for example at the website of theInternet Engineering Task Force (IETF) found at domain ietf.org, requestfor comments (RFC) 2778, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Presence dataincludes such communicative states of availability as “online,”“offline,” “do not disturb,” “at lunch.” Some applications considerother availability information as presence data, including informationthat indicates, for a particular person, “try mobile phone first, thenbusiness line”, “always send e-mail” or “unavailable for conferencecalls, but available for webcasts.” In some applications, presence datamay include physical location of the person such as “on travel inLondon,” or “at home,” or “in office” or “at company headquarters,” aswell as a network address. In some applications, presence data indicatespeople on the same (virtual) location like a web page or a shareddocument. In some applications, presence data indicates people who arewithin the same cell (the geographical area covered by a cellular phoneantenna). In some applications, presence data indicates location of aperson or facility based on a positioning system, such as the GlobalPositioning System (GPS) widely used in commerce and by the military. Asused in the following, presence data indicates the geographic locationor communicative state, or both, for a person at the current time andincludes all sources of such information, no matter how precise orreliable, including a person's planned location or communicative statein a calendar database for the current time.

1. Structural Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates a system 103 with data andservers for scheduling a conference using location data, according to anembodiment. The system 103 includes a network 102, hosts 110 a, 110 b,110 c (collectively referenced hereinafter as hosts 110), a commitmentdata system 170, such as an electronic calendar, a locations data system180, and a conference location server 190.

The client-server model of computer process interaction is widely knownand used. According to the client-server model, a client process sends amessage including a request to a server process, and the server processresponds by providing a service. The server process may also return amessage with a response to the client process. Often the client processand server process execute on different computer devices, called hosts,and communicate via a network using one or more protocols for networkcommunications. The term “server” is conventionally used to refer to theprocess that provides the service, or the host computer on which theprocess operates. Similarly, the term “client” is conventionally used torefer to the process that makes the request, or the host computer onwhich the process operates. As used herein, the terms “client” and“server” refer to the processes, rather than the host computers, unlessotherwise clear from the context. In addition, the process performed bya server can be broken up to run as multiple servers on multiple hosts(sometimes called tiers) for reasons that include reliability,scalability, and redundancy, but not limited to those reasons.

The network 102 is any network that connects a variety of users of hostcomputers, including, but not limited to, local area networks (LANs),wireless networks, wide-area networks (WAN), the Internet (a network ofheterogeneous networks using the Internet Protocol, IP), and virtualprivate networks. In an embodiment using a single stand alone computer,network 102 may be omitted.

The hosts 110 are computers to which a population of potentialparticipants in conferences (the “conference population”), or theirhuman agents such as secretaries and assistants, have access. The hostsare connected to network 102. For the purposes of illustration, threehosts 110 a, 110 b, 110 c are shown in FIG. 1. In other embodiments moreor fewer hosts are connected to network 102. In an embodiment using asingle stand alone computer, only one host, e.g., host 110 a, is used.

The system 103 includes a commitment data system 170, which includes aserver 174 and commitment data 172 on one or more storage devices. Theserver 174 controls the storage and retrieval of commitment data 172.For purposes of illustration, server 174 is shown separate from hosts110; but in some embodiments, server 174 resides in part or in whole onone or more of hosts 110. Furthermore, for purposes of illustration, oneserver 174 is connected to one storage device with commitment data 172;but in other embodiments, the commitment data may be distributed overseveral data storage devices connected directly to one or more serverslike server 174, or connected indirectly to one or more servers throughnetwork 102. Any system known in the art may be used as commitment datasystem 170, such as a calendar database system. In various embodiments,system 103 includes more or fewer commitment data systems like system170. In some embodiments, a commitment data system 170 is omitted.

Calendar data typically includes one or more data structures that holddata indicating a person from the population and zero or morecommitments of time for that person, including data indicating a startdate and time and stop date and time for the commitment. The commitmentof time may be for a conference or for travel or for personal activitiessuch as vacation and bereavement. In some embodiments, a description ofthe commitment, or a location associated with the commitment, or both,are included in the calendar data for each commitment.

In some embodiments, a role for the person during the commitment is alsoincluded. For example, in some embodiments, the commitment dataindicates a role that the person has for the conference, such as aspeaker at a conference, an in-person passive participant at aconference, a remote participant at a conference, or a traveler en routeto a destination. The role implies, and therefore indicates, a mode ofcommunication used during the commitment. For example, a speaker is notavailable for other modes of communication; an in-person participant isnot available for other in-person meetings but might be available forremote text. In some embodiments, the mode of communication for theconference is explicitly included in the availability data. Modes ofcommunication include in person communication and remote communicationusing any devices associated with the person. In some embodiments, therole or explicit mode of communication is used to double book during thecommitment, so that, for example, a person who is an in-person passiveparticipant can still receive text as a remote participant in adifferent conference. Similarly, a person who is committed to a remotetext conference is still available for conference as an in-personpassive participant.

The system 103 includes location data system 180, which includes aserver 184 and location data 182 on one or more storage devices. Theserver 184 controls the storage and retrieval of location data 182. Forpurposes of illustration, server 184 is shown separate from hosts 110;but in some embodiments, server 184 resides in part or in whole on oneor more of hosts 110. Furthermore, for purposes of illustration, oneserver 184 is connected to one storage device with location data 182,but in other embodiments, the location data may be distributed overseveral data storage devices connected directly to one or more serverslike server 184, or connected indirectly to one or more servers throughnetwork 102. Any location data system for the location of persons orfacilities known in the art may be used as location system 180.

Location data 182 includes planned location data 185 or presence data186, or both. Planned location data 185 indicates the planned futurelocation of a person or equipment. Presence data 186 indicates thelocation or communicative state of a person or equipment at a currenttime.

A location data system 180 is any system that includes data thatindicates the location or communicative state of one or more persons inthe conference population or the location of various equipment andfacilities that are used to conduct conferences. Location data systems180 include systems that generate or utilize presence data 186, such asa system that associates a cell phone that has a particular cell phonenumber belonging to a person with a particular cell in an array of cellsthat span a coverage area, as is described in greater detail in a latersection. Location data systems include systems that use planned locationdata 185, such as a travel request processing system or a humanresources employee leave processing system, or a portion of a calendardatabase system that includes the locations associated with one or morecommitments. In some embodiments, a communications channel for theperson during a future commitment is also included in location data. Forexample, in some embodiments, the communications channel data indicatesthat the person is available for receiving cell phone calls at aparticular cell phone number, or text messages at a particular instantmessage 10, or email, or other data, such as a slide presentation, at anemail address, or some combination during the commitment. In variousembodiments, system 103 includes more location data systems like system180. In some embodiments, one or more servers like server 184 areembedded in commitment data system 170, such as a calendar databasesystem that includes location data with scheduled commitments.

The system 103 includes a conference location server 190. The conferencelocation server 190 determines the location and zero or more otherproperties of a conference, such as time and invitees. For purposes ofillustration, conference location server 190 is shown separate fromhosts 110 and servers 174, 184; but in some embodiments, conferencelocation server 190 resides in part or in whole on one or more of hosts110 or on a host with other depicted systems 170, 180 or as part ofservers 174, 184. In some embodiments, the conference location server190 may be distributed over several hosts connected to network 102.

2. Functional Overview

According to some embodiments of the invention, location data is used toschedule or conduct conferences or both In some embodiments, conferencetimes are selected based on the locations of persons who establish aquorum. In some embodiments, all persons who establish the quorum arerequired to be in the same location, but that location is arbitrary. Insome embodiments, all persons who establish the quorum are required tobe in a particular location. In some embodiments, all persons whoestablish the quorum are required to be in a set of two or morelocations, which can be connected by remote conferencing technology. Insome embodiments, all persons who establish the quorum are required tobe in a set of one or more communicative states which support remoteconferencing. In some embodiments, the conference location server 190configures equipment to support the remote conferencing.

3. Example Embodiment

To illustrate a method according to the present invention, an exampleembodiment is described. FIG. 2 is a flow diagram that illustrates amethod 200 for scheduling a conference, according to an embodiment.Although steps are indicated in a particular order in FIG. 2, in otherembodiments, the steps may be performed in a different order oroverlapping in time. For example steps 210 through 220 may be performedin any order or may overlap in time. In addition, in some embodimentsone or more steps may be omitted.

In step 210, planned location data is stored in association withcommitment data. For example, a calendar database for schedulingmeetings is modified to use data structures with a data field forstoring a location for the meeting. In some embodiments, a database ofvideoconference room locations is maintained in association withscheduled uses of the rooms. In some embodiments, data that indicates arole played by the person during the commitment or an explicit mode ofcommunication used by the person during the commitment is also stored inthe commitment data. For example, data is stored in association with thecommitment that indicates the person is a speaker unable to transmit orreceive data for the duration of the commitment. As a further example,data is stored in association with the commitment that indicates theperson is a passive participant able to receive text, or cell phonecalls, or emails, or multi-media data, or some combination. As a furtherexample, data is stored in association with the commitment thatindicates the person is a traveler during the committed time and is ableto receive and initiate text, or cell phone calls, or emails, ormulti-media data, or some combination As a further example, data isstored in association with the commitment that indicates the person iscommitted using text messaging and is still able to attend anotherconference using other modes of communication, including an in-personconference that allows the person to receive and send text. In someembodiments, step 210 is omitted.

In step 212, quorum data is received. Sufficient involvement by personsfrom the conference population to hold a conference is a quorum for theconference. According to embodiments of the invention, a quorum of twoor more persons for a conference is defined based on having one or moremembers from each of one or more groups. In some embodiments, a quorumis defined based on having one or more members from each of one or morerepresentative groups, without requiring all members from anyrepresentative group. By using representative groups to define a quorum,it is easier to avoid conflicts. A person attempting to schedule ameeting determines the type of expertise or authority that is importantto conduct the business of a conference, and identifies two or morepersons from the conference population that provide one or more desiredexpertise or authority. Those two or more persons for a desiredexpertise or authority constitute a representative group for theconference. A quorum can be defined by a combination of groups and aminimum number of members to attend from each group. Predefined groupsmay be used, such as departments or job classifications or email listsor combinations of these.

Any method may be used to receive the quorum data, including, but notlimited to predefined data stored within source code or in files storedwith executable code (“default values”) or in files or a databaseaccessible to the process, organizer input either in response to promptsfrom the process or independently of prompts, or from data included in amessage sent to the system 103 by another server or from a clientprocess, such as a client process on a host 110 operated by anorganizer.

The quorum data indicates one or more groups and the minimum number ofpersons from each group. A group for which a minimum of zero membersmake a quorum is called an optional group; all its members are optionalattendees. One optional group with optional attendees is used in somecommercial systems. A group for which a minimum of all members make aquorum is called a mandatory group. One mandatory group of attendees isused in some commercial systems. A group with a minimum of one or moremembers but less than all the members of the group is called arepresentative group. At least one member attends to represent each ofthese groups, but the entire group need not attend. Such representativegroups are described in more detail in Ethier, cited above.

In step 220, availability data including at least some location data andsometimes the commitment data is received for the persons who make up aquorum. For example, in some embodiments planned location data isreceived in step 220 from a calendar database that includes locationsassociated with commitments. In some embodiments, time commitments forpersonnel and facilities are received from commitment data 172 managedby a calendar database, and planned location data 185 is received from aseparate server 184 that stores planned location data 185 associatedwith corresponding commitments in the commitment data 172. In variousembodiments, step 220 includes receiving presence data 186 from server184 in addition to or instead of the planned location data 185.

In some embodiments, step 220 includes receiving data that indicatescommunication addresses for one or more persons in the quorum. Thesecommunication addresses include, but are not limited to, postaladdresses giving living or working geographic locations, equipmentidentification numbers such as landline and wireless telephone numbersand fixed network addresses of desk top computers, instant messageidentities, network user identities, or some combination. In someembodiments, step 220 includes receiving data that indicates equipmentassigned to one or more persons in the quorum. These data indicate, forexample, whether the person has a laptop computer or personal digitalassistant (PDA) or cellular telephone or some other portable device, andwhether that device includes microphone, audio or vibration alarm,speaker, text display, video display, digital video camera, GPScapability, or other features, or some combination.

As described in Ethier, multiple combinations of persons fromrepresentative groups make up multiple possible quorums. In step 220 theavailability data for one or more of these combinations is received.

Any method may be used to receive the availability data, such as listedabove for receiving quorum data, including, but not limited to data infiles or a database accessible to the process, user input either inresponse to prompts from the process or independently of prompts, orfrom data included in a message sent to the conference location server190 by another server or from a client process, such as a client processon a host 110 operated by a user or the organizer.

For example, in some embodiments a commitment server 174 accesses datadirectly from the commitment data 172 and a location server 184 accessesdata directly from location data 182, including both planned locationdata 185 and presence data 186. In some embodiments, a separateconference location server 190 sends a query message to commitment dataserver 174 to retrieve data from the commitment data 172 and receivesavailability data in a return message. In some embodiments, conferencelocation server 190 sends a query message to server 184 to retrieve datafrom location data 182 and receives location data in a return message.In some embodiments, the query message includes data identifying one ormore persons in the specified groups or one or more types of remoteconferencing to use. In some embodiments, during step 220, a querymessage includes data identifying one or more persons in a combinationthat satisfies a quorum.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates a system 300 for usingpresence data, according to an embodiment. System 300 includes theconference location system 103, a cellular telephone network 310, apacket switching network 320, such as the Internet, and a telephonenetwork 330, which is an example of a circuit-switching network.

Connected to the cellular telephone network 310 are radio antennas 312a, 312 b, 312 c, 312 d (collectively referenced hereinafter as antennas312), which each provide wireless communications with mobile telephoneunits called cell phones within a certain geographic area called a cell.A cell area is often on the order of a few square kilometers (km²).Although four antennas 312 are shown in FIG. 3 for purposes ofillustration, in other embodiments the cellular network 312 includesmany more antennas spanning a large number of densely populated anddensely traveled geographic areas. A cell phone communicates with anantenna 312. For example, cell phone 311, in the possession of a persondesignated herein as person A, communicates with antenna 312 a. Alsoconnected to cellular network 310 is a cell system server 318 on a host(not shown). The cell system server 318 receives and manages informationabout which cell phones are communicating with which antenna 312.

Packet-switching network 320 includes network edge devices 322 a, 322 b,322 c, 322 d (collectively referenced herein as edge devices 322). Edgedevices 322 are network devices such as hubs, switches and routers, bothcabled and wireless, to which network interface devices are connected,such as network interface cards (NICs) in host computers. For example,computer network interface card 321, in a computer in the possession ofa person designated herein as person B, is connected to edge device 322b. Similarly a host with multi-media equipment 328 is connected to edgedevice 322 d, and bank of modulators/demodulators (modems) for telephonesignals designated modem bank 326 is connected to edge device 322 c.Although four edge devices 322 are shown in FIG. 3 for purposes ofillustration, in other embodiments the packet-switching network 320includes more or fewer edge devices 322.

Also connected to packet-switching network 320 is the conferencingsystem 103. Presence data server 324 is an embodiment of a location datasystem 180 within conferencing system 103, described above.

The telephone network 330 is connected to landline telephone units (notshown) such as ordinary telephone handsets. In addition, one or morecomputer hosts use the telephone network 330 by means of a modem. Forexample, modem 331, in a computer in the possession of a persondesignated herein as person C, is connected to telephone network 330.Also connected to telephone network 330 is teleconferencing equipmentfor remote conferencing using the telephone network 330.Teleconferencing equipment includes conference bridge 338, andteleconference equipment such as 332 a, 332 b, 332 c located in SanJose, San Diego and New York, respectively.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the location data server 184depicted in FIG. 1 includes the presence data server 324 connected tothe packet-switching network 320 in FIG. 3. The presence data server 324collects and manages presence data for persons who make up one or moreof the possible quorums. Any method for passing presence data to server324 may be used. Currently there is a new IETF group working on astandard for the transmission of location information over the internet.For example, see at the ietf.org website draft-ietf-geopriv-pres-01 for“A Presence Architecture for the Distribution of Geopriv LocationObjects;” draft-ietf-geopriv-pidf-lo-02 for “A Presence-based GEOPRIVLocation Object Format;” and draft-ietf-geopriv-policy-02 for “Formatfor Expressing Privacy Preferences for Location Information.”

For purposes of illustration, it is assumed that persons A, Band Cconstitute one possible quorum for an conference, so their locationsaffect whether and where such a conference can be convened. Thuspresence data server 324 obtains presence data for persons A,B,C.

In the illustrated embodiment, presence data server 324 communicateswith cell server 318 to determine the location of antennas communicatingwith cell phones belonging to persons who make up the quorum. For thisexample, it is further assumed that location data 182 includes cellphone numbers for persons who are users of the conferencing system 103.Thus presence data server 324 determines the particular cell phonenumbers for members of the quorum. In this embodiment, the presence dataserver 324 includes a client process for the cell system server 318. Theclient process sends a request to cell system server 318 for thelocation of any antenna communicating with any of the particular cellphone numbers. Any method may be used by the cell system server 318 orthe system 103 to associate cell phone 311 with a phone number,including the use of the electronic serial number (ESN) or theinternational mobile equipment identity (IMEI) of the cellular phone. Inresponse, cell system server 318 sends to the client process in presencedata server 324 a message that indicates the location of antenna 312 athat is communicating with cell phone 311 having one cell phone numberon the list. For purposes of illustration it is assumed that antenna 312a is located in a certain part of New York City. Presence data server324 determines that the one number belongs to person A and thereforethat person A is currently in that certain part of New York City.

In some embodiments, the presence data is indicative of a person'slocation or communicative state at the current instant. In someembodiments, the presence data is indicative of a person's location orcommunicative state for any instant within a window of time useful forthe purposes of organizing and conducting a meeting, such as a six houror longer window. In some embodiments, the cell system server 318retains data about communications with cell phones for an extended timeof several hours. In such embodiments, the location of all antennas thatcommunicated with the cell phone 311 over those several hours isreturned. Presence data server 324 can determine, based on that data,whether person A is stationary in one location in New York City or istraveling through New York City toward a particular direction. Forpurposes of illustration it is assumed that person A is stationary inone location in New York City. In some embodiments in which locationdata is not already associated with commitment data, the presence datais taken to indicate a person's location for the duration of thecommitment that overlaps the current time. For example, if the currenttime is part of a 3-hour commitment scheduled for person A, then the NewYork City location is also associated with that commitment for the threehours.

In the illustrated embodiment, presence data server 324 communicateswith network routing devices in packet-switching network 320 todetermine the location of edge devices 322 connected to equipmentbelonging to persons who make up the quorum. For this example, it isfurther assumed that location data 182 includes user identificationcodes (user IDs) and NIC identification codes, such as machine accesscodes (MACs), for persons who are users of the conferencing system 103.Thus presence data server 324 determines the particular user IDs formembers of the quorum and NIC MACs for equipment belonging to themembers of the quorum. The presence data server 324 sends a request forthe location of any edge device 322 passing data packets that carry theuser ID or MAC ID on a list of user IDs and MAC IDs for members of thequorum. In response, presence data server 324 receives a message thatindicates that edge device 322 b is communicating with a NIC having aMAC ID on the list. For purposes of illustration it is assumed that edgedevice 322 b is a router located in San Jose on an enterprise network.Presence data server 324 determines that the MAC ID is associated withperson B and therefore that person B is currently in San Jose. In thisexample, the physical location of a non-mobile device is used todetermine the current physical location of a user when that user ispresent on that device. In some embodiments, the physical location ofnon-mobile devices are known when the devices are provisioned for thenetwork, and therefore the physical location is made known to a presenceserver.

It is further assumed for purposes of illustration that presence dataserver 324 receives a message that indicates that edge device 322 cauthenticated a user having a user ID on the list. For purposes ofillustration it is assumed that edge device 322 c is connected to modembank 326 for receiving modulated signals on local telephone calls in SanDiego. Presence data server 324 determines that the user ID belongs toperson C and therefore that person C is currently in San Diego.

Returning to the method depicted in FIG. 2, during step 220, the server190 receives presence data, if any, as described above with respect toFIG. 3. During step 220, or in another step (not shown) in anotherembodiment, the conference organizer may specify properties of theconference. In various embodiments, the other properties include aduration for the conference and a description of a topic for theconference. In some embodiments, the organizer specifies limits on thevalues of the properties such as a limit on the dates for holding theconference, a time of day, a language, or a travel cost, as described inEthier . . . .

In step 230, the process determines a proposed location for theconference. In some embodiments, step 230 includes receiving data thatindicates the type of remote conferencing that is appropriate, e.g.,whether data, audio, video or multi-media remote conferencing equipmentwill be used, or whether a circuit-switching network or apacket-switching network is to be used. The type of remote conferencemay affect the locations where the conference can be held; for example,an audio telephone conference can be held at locations where a telephoneis available and a data packet-switching conference can be held atlocations that support an Internet connection. However, an audio-videoteleconference can only be held at facilities with cameras and largebandwidth telephone connections. A remote conference using data packetscarrying voice data for live transmission (a process called “voice overIP”) can only be held at facilities with microphones and large bandwidthinternet connections configured to support voice over IP. In someembodiments, the type of remote conference is determined during step 230based on the devices in the possession of the participants, such asdetermined using presence data. In some embodiments, the conferenceorganizer specifies a range of one or more types of communicationdevices that are acceptable for conducting the conference.

In some embodiments, a time for the conference or locations and timesfor one or more alternatives are also determined during step 230. If aproposed location and time are not possible to satisfy the quorum andany constraints on the conference, a conflict arises. Any response tothe conflict may be employed, including sending a failure message to theorganizer or resolving the conflict using any resolution process knownin the art.

If such proposed times are possible, step 230 includes determining alist of the available persons that satisfy the quorum at the proposedlocation with or without determining other properties of the conference,such as the time of the conference. In the preferred embodiment, step230 includes determining one or more times for conducting theconference. In some embodiments, step 230 includes having the organizerspecify the location or locations for the conference, such as apreferred meeting place or locations that support videoconferencing. Inembodiments in which the organizer specifies the location or locations,step 230 includes determining the time or attendees that satisfy thequorum for the specified locations.

In an example of the illustrated embodiment, during step 230, thelocation server 190 determines to hold the conference involving personsA, B, C as a teleconference using teleconferencing equipment located inSan Jose, San Diego, and New York, where the presence data indicatespersons A, B, C are currently located. It is assumed for purposes ofillustration that data indicating the addresses and room numbers of theteleconferencing equipment in those cities is available in the locationdata 182. In the illustrated embodiment, location server 190 alsorequests commitment data from commitment server 170 to determine thatpersons A, B, C and the rooms where the teleconferencing equipment islocated are available as of six o'clock post meridian (PM) easternstandard time (EDT) on the current day.

In step 290, invitations are sent to alert persons who make up thequorum, and any optional persons, about the selected conference location(and sometimes a proposed time). In some embodiments, step 290 isomitted. In some embodiments, step 290 is performed automatically.

In the illustrated embodiment, step 290 includes sending data about thetime and other attendees of the conference and other properties of theconference along with the location of the conference. Persons who areamong the combination that satisfies the constraints are notified thattheir attendance is mandatory for the particular conference, and otherpersons in one or more groups are also invited to attend. In the exampleof the illustrated embodiment, messages are sent to persons A, B, Cindicating that their attendance is mandatory at a teleconference to beconducted at 6 PM, EST. Person A is directed to call a phone number, orproceed to the address and room, for teleconference equipment 322 c inNew York City. Person B is directed to proceed to the address and roomof teleconference equipment 322 a in San Jose. Person C is directed toproceed to the address and room of teleconference equipment 322 b in SanDiego.

In some embodiments, the invitation sent in step 290 is delivered basedon the presence data. For example, because person A is using a cellphone not a computer connection, the message to person A is sent as atext message to the cell phone 311. Because persons Band C are usingcomputers, their messages are sent as email or instant messages, orboth, using corresponding addresses associated with each person.

Once a person is sent an invitation, in many embodiments that person hasthe option of rejecting the invitation. In some embodiments, step 290includes a step in which it is determined whether a mandatoryparticipant for a selected conference time rejects the invitation. Ifso, control passes back to step 230 to automatically determine the nextalternative that meets all of the criteria for the meeting (the nextalternative may include the same mandatory participant but at adifferent time). In some embodiments, the organizer (i.e., the owner ofthe meeting) is informed of the rejection and the next alternative sothat the organizer can review the change before the previous invitationis withdrawn and the alternative is propagated to the new mandatory andoptional attendees. If no alternative remains after a rejection, aconflict arises. The response to a conflict is described above.

If the invitees that make up a quorum accept the invitations, controlpasses to step 296. Step 296 represents a branch in the flow. If amultiple location conference has been organized, control passes to step298. Otherwise control passes to directly to step 299. In step 299, theconference is conducted.

In step 298, a network is configured to support remote conferencing. Forexample, to support a telephone videoconference over a telephone systemcircuit-switching network, telephone equipment is configured to supportthe videoconference. Any known method may be used. For example, theconference bridge 338 is reserved for the time of the conference, a tollfree telephone number is assigned for the conference, and a number ofports for the bridge is determined, based on the number of remote sitesthat call into the videoconference. In some embodiments, step 298 isperformed manually using different systems. In some embodiments, step298 is performed by location server 190.

To support a packet-switching network remote conference, networkequipment is configured. For example, to support voice over IP betweenpersons Band C, edge devices 322 b, 322 c and intervening networkdevices (not shown) are configured to support voice over IP. To supportpacket-switching video-conferencing between multi-media equipment 328and other multi-media equipment (not shown), edge device 322 d and otherintervening network devices (not shown) are configured to supportvideoconferencing. Any known method may be used. In some embodiments,step 298 is performed manually using different systems. In someembodiments, step 298 is performed by location server 190.

In an embodiment that sets up the remote conferencing automatically,server 190 includes a client process for a server (not shown) thatmanages the remote conferencing equipment. For example, to support atelephone videoconference over a telephone system circuit-switchingnetwork, telephone equipment is configured to support thevideoconference. For example, general purpose electronic conferencing(GPEC) systems allow an organizer to reserve teleconference equipment,e.g. PROS HARE™ manufactured by Intel Corp of Santa Clara Calif. andAT&T's WORLD WORX^(SM) Service support reserving InternationalTelecommunication Union—Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)H.320, Narrow Band Visual Telephone System and Terminal Equipment. Insome embodiments, the conference bridge is configured to call theattendees at the appointed time, rather than waiting for the attendeesto initiate the calls.

To support a conference using a packet-switching network, such as theInternet, the network devices are configured to support the remoteconference. For example to support voice over IP the network devices,such as endpoints (terminals), media gateways, multipoint processors,multipoint control units, hubs, switches, routers and mixers areconfigured to process these packets in a special way, allowing enoughbandwidth and priority so that these packets arrive at their destinationnode in a timely fashion. User agents, proxies, softswitches, mediagateway controllers, gatekeepers, call control agents, service controlagents, multipoint controllers, and related network elements sendsignals among themselves to establish, maintain, and release voicesessions. Similar concerns apply for live video feed over the interne.Any standard known at the time system 103 is implemented may be used tosupport voice, live video or multi-media data over IP, includingInternational Telecommunication Union(ITU) H.323, and the IETF SessionInitiation Protocol/Session Description Protocol (SIP/SDP; see IETFRFC-3261, RFC-2327), and other emerging standards.

In an embodiment that sets up the remote conferencing automatically,server 190 includes a client process for a server (not shown) thatmanages the configuration of packet-switching network devices. Anynetwork configuration management system may be used. For example, theserver 190 may use a client for Cisco Works for management of networkresources, or a client for Cisco Application Oriented Networking System(AONS) for configuration of network resources, or both. Both Cisco Worksand AONS are available from Cisco Systems of San Jose, Calif. to networkadministrators. In some embodiments the system, e.g., server 190, knowshow much information it will have to transmit between its nodes andmakes bandwidth reservations based on Reservation Protocol (RSVP) or asimilar protocol to ensure the users will have a good experiencethroughout their conference.

In other embodiments, new or emerging systems may be used in step 298.In some embodiments the configuration of network devices is based on thenumber and locations of participants in a remote conference, such asprovided by conference location server 190.

For example, the network devices are configured to minimize a number oflinks between the locations to reduce overall traffic demands on thenetwork. To illustrate this example, it is assumed that 5 conferenceparticipants are scattered around San Francisco and 3 participants arescattered about New York City. In the illustrated example, theconference location server 190 causes a central New York City (NYC)media resource to establish a connection to a San Francisco (SF) mediaresource; and the dialed connections (dial-out or dial-in) would beestablished locally. There would be 3 local calls between the NYC mediaresource and the 3 NYC participants, and 5 local calls between the SFmedia resource and the 5 SF participants. If one of the participants isin, or travels to, another location, e.g., Miami, Fla., then one of themedia resource centers supports a dialed connection to Miami based onwhich connection is least costly (monetary or other measure of cost). Ifmultiple participants join in Florida, then a new media resource, e.g.,in Miami, is used for local access to the Florida participants, and asingle, least costly connection is made between Miami and one of theother sites—NYC or SF.

In some embodiments, one or more of the participants are equipped withwireless mobile technology. Some such devices include, but are notlimited to, laptop computers with microphones, digital video cameras andGPS receivers. In such embodiments, the system, e.g., server 190,determines the most appropriate and available network endpoint devices,such as audio, video and data mixers to produce the combined signal tobe transmitted over a wireless connection to the mobile device.

In some embodiments, the configuration is performed based on thepresence data. For example, if person A is using a cell phone and not acomputer connection for the remote conference itself, then thecommunications with A are based on the properties of the cell phone. Insome embodiments, these properties are determined based on locationdata. In some embodiments, these properties are based on negotiationsbetween the device and the system, e.g., server 190. For example, thesystem determines that the cell phone has a video display and a digitalcamera and downloads a picture of the caller A for using as a video feedduring a conference call with the other conference attendees when personA is speaking. In such embodiments, similar negotiations are conductedwith other devices, such as computers used by persons B and C. In thisway a multipoint, multi-media remote conference can be held thatinvolves text and data (e.g., slides) among persons using different andmobile equipment. For example, if person C is using a laptop without amicrophone or speaker, words spoken by persons A and B can be directedto a speech recognition application on the network and converted to textthat is sent to the laptop of person C.

4. Example Conferences

4.1 Immediate Conference

In some embodiments, the system 103 and method 200 are used to determinewhere to hold a nearly immediate conference, sometimes called an “adhoc”conference, e.g., a conference sometime during the same day or duringthe next predetermined number of hours, e.g., 36 hours. An ad-hocconference can be organized using presence data as described above forthe example of persons A, B, and C.

In this example, an organizer determines to hold an ad-hoc conferencelater the same day. For purposes of illustration, it is assumed that theorganizer determines that a quorum is made up of one person from each ofthree representative groups having five members, four members and sevenmembers, respectively. Using the approach of Ethier, the system 103determines that there are 5*4*7=140 combinations of three persons thatsatisfy the quorum, including the combination made up of person A fromthe first representative group, person B from the second representativegroup, and person C from the third representative group. During step212, location server 190 receives the quorum data. The quorum data canbe expressed in any way. For example, in some embodiments, the quorumdata is expressed as the three representative groups; in someembodiments the quorum data is expressed as the 140 combinations, and insome embodiments, the quorum is expressed as one combination. Forpurposes of illustration, it is assumed that the quorum data isexpressed as data indicating the three representatives groups.

In step 220 availability data is received. For purposes of illustrationit is assumed that the availability data includes commitment data forthe persons in the three representative groups.

In step 230, one or more locations for holding the ad-hoc conference aredetermined. It is assumed for purposes of illustration that step 230includes determining the 140 combinations based on the representativegroups and using the commitment data to determine that all combinationsbut two involve persons with commitments that preclude participating ina conference on the current day. It is assumed for purposes ofillustration that the two combinations without prior commitments includepersons D, B, C and persons A, B, C.

It is further assumed, for purposes of illustration that step 220overlaps in time step 230, and that presence data for the persons D, B,C is obtained after that combination is determined to be available. Thepresence data indicates, as described above with reference to FIG. 3,that person B is in San Jose and person C is in San Diego. In step 230,using location data 182 from location data server 184, location server190 determines that person B is within the vicinity of a remoteconferencing facility supporting telephone videoconferencing that isavailable in San Jose, e.g., equipment 332 a. Similarly, location server190 determines that person C is within the vicinity of a remoteconferencing facility supporting telephone videoconferencing that isavailable in San Diego, e.g., equipment 332 b. It is further assumed forpurposes of illustration, that, based on location data 182, locationserver 190 determines that person D routinely works at a customer sitein a rural town in California and has no commitments that would causeperson D to be in another location. Location server 190 thereforedetermines that person D is currently in that rural town. Locationserver 190 further determines that the rural town is not in the vicinityof any remote conferencing facility, e.g., the rural town is more than afour hour drive from such a facility. Thus, location server determinesduring step 230 that the combination D, B, C is poorly located to holdan ad-hoc conference.

During step 220, which overlaps step 230, location server 190 receivespresence data for the person A from the location data server 184. Asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 3, person A is currently presentin New York City. During step 230, location server 190 determines thatperson A is in the vicinity of the teleconferencing equipment 322 c thatis available in New York City. Thus, location server 190 determinesduring step 230 that the combination A, B, C is properly located to holdan ad-hoc conference using available remote conferencing equipment 332a, 332 b, 332 c. In the illustrated embodiment, the system 103 alsodetermines that the time of the ad-hoc conference is 6 PM EST or later.

In step 290, invitations are sent to the invitees, persons A, B, C, thattheir attendance is needed at an ad-hoc conference that afternoon after6 PM EST and that they should proceed to the locations where theteleconference will be held. For example, person A should proceed to theaddress and room where equipment 332 c is located; person B shouldproceed to the address and room where equipment 332 a is located; andperson C should proceed to the address and room where equipment 332 b islocated. In some embodiments, during step 290 responses are receivedfrom invitees, which indicate some property of the conference is to bechanged. For example, person A responds with a request to move theconference to 7 PM EST to accommodate traffic problems in New York City.In some such embodiments, a second message is sent during step 290 toconfirm the meeting at the later time.

Because the conference is held in multiple locations, step 296 branchesto step 298. In step 298, a network node is configured for a remoteconference. For example, telephone conference bridge 338 is configuredwith six ports for three audio and three video signals and an 800area-code telephone number is assigned for a one hour meeting beginningat 7 PM EST. In some embodiments in which step 290 overlaps or occursafter step 298, the invitation sent in step 290 includes the 800area-code telephone number to call to implement the teleconference.

4.2 Co-located Conference

In some embodiments, the system 103 and method 200 are used to determinewhere to hold a conference in which all participants are located in thesame place for an in person meeting, called herein a co-locatedconference. A co-located conference can be organized using presence dataor planned data.

To illustrate a co-located conference using presence data, it is assumedthat an organizer wants persons from the same three representativegroups described above to hold a co-located conference. This informationis received as quorum data by the location server 190 during step 212,as described above.

During step 220, the location server 190 receives availability data. Forpurposes of illustration, it is further assumed that the presence datadoes not show any combination in which all three persons are in thevicinity of the same location at the current time.

In step 230, a location for the co-located meeting is determined. If theplanned location data 185 shows a future time when persons from allthree representative groups are in the vicinity of a particularlocation, the particular location is returned and control passes to step290 to send invitations to the invitees. Because only one site isinvolved, step 296 passes control to step 299; and step 298, toconfigure a network node, is skipped.

It is further assumed for purposes of illustration that planned locationdata 185 does not include any future time when persons from all threerepresentative groups are in the vicinity of the same location at thesame time. The organizer is informed that the co-located meeting can notbe scheduled, but that the organizer will be alerted when conditionsallow such a conference. In this embodiment, location server 190 reviewslocation data at a later time. Any method for checking the location dataat a later time may be used. For example, in some embodiments, locationserver 190 reviews the locations for organizer's co-located conferenceperiodically, e.g., twice a day. In some embodiments, location server190 reviews the locations for organizer's co-located conference whenevera change is made to the location data 182.

It is further assumed, for the purposed of illustration, that person Creturns to home base in San Jose from San Diego on the next day, andthat person A takes an unexpected trip to the San Francisco Bay areathat was not entered into the commitment data 172 or associated plannedlocation data 185. It is further assumed that, as a consequence, cellphone 311 with person A communicates with a cell antenna 312 a that islocated in Palo Alto Calif., which is a thirty minute drive from SanJose.

During step 220, the location server 190 receives updated location datathat indicates person A is in Palo Alto and persons B, C are in SanJose. During step 230, it is determined that a meeting room in San Joseis available and that persons A, B, Care currently all in the vicinityof that room based on presence data. In some embodiments, the system 103also determines whether one or more of the persons A, B, C who satisfythe quorum have commitments that preclude their meeting. In someembodiments, the organizer is given the option to override a priorcommitment to take advantage of the persons' being in the vicinity ofthe same location. It is assumed for purposes of illustration that thelocation server 190 determines that all three persons and the meetingroom are available at noon Pacific Standard Time (PST).

In step 290, the persons A, B, C are invited to meet in the room in SanJose at noon PST. Because only one site is involved, step 296 passescontrol to step 299; and step 298, to configure a network node, isskipped.

4.3 Particular Site Conference

In some embodiments, the system 103 and method 200 are used to determinewhen to hold a conference in which one or more conference sites arespecified, called herein a particular site conference. A particular siteconference can be organized using presence data or planned data.

If the organizer specifies one location, then the organizer isrequesting a co-located conference, but unlike the case described above,this co-located conference is at a site specified by the organizer andnot a site determined by circumstance.

To illustrate a particular site conference using presence data, it isassumed that an organizer wants persons from the same threerepresentative groups described above to hold a particular siteconference at two locations, designated here as east coast (E) and westcoast (W) locations, which support live audio-video data transfer overthe Internet. In other examples, the organizer may specify more or fewerlocations.

The quorum information is received as quorum data by the location server190 during step 212, as described above.

Data indicating the two specific sites is received from the organizer,during step 220 in some embodiments and in step 230 in otherembodiments. Location data for the specified sites is received fromlocation data server 184 based on stored location data 182. In theillustrated embodiment, commitment data for those sites is received fromcommitment server 174 based on commitment data 172 during step 220.

For purposes of illustration, it is further assumed that the presencedata does not show any combination in which all three persons are in thevicinity of the two specific sites at the current time.

In step 230, the location for the two specific sites are determinedbased on the input from the organizer. If the planned location data 185shows a future time when persons from all three representative groupsare in the vicinity of those specific sites, that future time and thoseinvitees are also determined during step 230. Control passes to step 290to send invitations to the invitees. Because two sites are involved,step 296 passes control to step 298 to configure one or more networknodes. In embodiments in which only one specific site is input by theorganizer, control passes instead to step 299; and step 298 is skipped.

It is further assumed for purposes of illustration that planned locationdata 185 does not include any future time when persons from all threerepresentative groups are in the vicinity of the specified sites at thesame time. The organizer is informed that the particular site conferencecan not be scheduled, but that the organizer will be alerted whenconditions allow such a conference. In this embodiment, location server190 reviews location data at a later time. Any method for checking thelocation data at a later time may be used. For example, in someembodiments, location server 190 reviews the locations for organizer'sparticular site conference periodically, e.g., twice a day. In someembodiments location server 190 reviews the locations for organizer'sparticular site conference whenever a change is made to the locationdata 182.

It is further assumed, for the purposed of illustration, that person Creturns from San Diego on the next day to home base in San Jose in thevicinity of site w. It is further assumed that person A remains for therest of the week in New York City in the vicinity of site E.

During step 220, the location server 190 receives updated location datathat indicates persons B, C are in San Jose and person A is in New YorkCity. During step 230, location server 190 determines, based on presencedata, that persons B, C are currently both in the vicinity of site Wandthat person A is in the vicinity of site E. In some embodiments, thesystem 103 also determines whether one or more of the persons A, B, Cwho satisfy the quorum have commitments that preclude their meeting. Insome embodiments, the organizer is given the option to override a priorcommitment to take advantage of the persons' being in the vicinity ofthe particular sites. It is assumed for purposes of illustration thatthe location server 190 determines that all three persons and the sitesE and Ware available at noon Eastern Standard Time (EST) of the currentday.

In step 290, the persons B, C are invited to meet in the room at site Wat noon EST and person A is invited to meet in the room at site E.

Because two sites are involved, step 296 passes control to step 298 toconfigure a network node. It is assumed for purposes of illustrationthat during step 298, network devices are configured to support liveaudio-video packet-switching. It is further assumed that multi-mediaequipment 328 are at site E and that additional multi-media equipment(not shown) are connected to computer 321. In this embodiment, duringstep 298 the location server 190 configures edge devices 322 d, 322 b,and intervening network devices (not shown) of network 320 to supportlive audio-video packet-switching.

5. Hardware Overview

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 400 uponwhich an embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Computer system400 includes a communication mechanism such as a bus 410 for passinginformation between other internal and external components of thecomputer system 400. Information is represented as physical signals of ameasurable phenomenon, typically electric voltages, but including, inother embodiments, such phenomena as magnetic, electromagnetic,pressure, chemical, molecular atomic and quantum interactions. Forexample, north and south magnetic fields, or a zero and non-zeroelectric voltage, represent two states (0, 1) of a binary digit (bit). Asequence of binary digits constitutes digital data that is used torepresent a number or code for a character. A bus 410 includes manyparallel conductors of information so that information is transferredquickly among devices coupled to the bus 410. One or more processors 402for processing information are coupled with the bus 410. A processor 402performs a set of operations on information. The set of operationsinclude bringing information in from the bus 410 and placing informationon the bus 410. The set of operations also typically include comparingtwo or more units of information, shifting positions of units ofinformation, and combining two or more units of information, such as byaddition or multiplication. A sequence of operations to be executed bythe processor 402 constitute computer instructions.

Computer system 400 also includes a memory 404 coupled to bus 410. Thememory 404, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamicstorage device, stores information including computer instructions.Dynamic memory allows information stored therein to be changed by thecomputer system 400. RAM allows a unit of information stored at alocation called a memory address to be stored and retrievedindependently of information at neighboring addresses. The memory 404 isalso used by the processor 402 to store temporary values duringexecution of computer instructions. The computer system 400 alsoincludes a read only memory (ROM) 406 or other static storage devicecoupled to the bus 410 for storing static information, includinginstructions, that is not changed by the computer system 400. Alsocoupled to bus 410 is a non-volatile (persistent) storage device 408,such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, for storing information,including instructions, that persists even when the computer system 400is turned off or otherwise loses power.

Information, including instructions, is provided to the bus 410 for useby the processor from an external input device 412, such as a keyboardcontaining alphanumeric keys operated by a human user, or a sensor. Asensor detects conditions in its vicinity and transforms thosedetections into signals compatible with the signals used to representinformation in computer system 400. Other external devices coupled tobus 410, used primarily for interacting with humans, include a displaydevice 414, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display(LCD), for presenting images, and a pointing device 416, such as a mouseor a trackball or cursor direction keys, for controlling a position of asmall cursor image presented on the display 414 and issuing commandsassociated with graphical elements presented on the display 414.

In the illustrated embodiment, special purpose hardware, such as anapplication specific integrated circuit (IC) 420, is coupled to bus 410.The special purpose hardware is configured to perform operations notperformed by processor 402 quickly enough for special purposes. Examplesof application specific ICs include graphics accelerator cards forgenerating images for display 414, cryptographic boards for encryptingand decrypting messages sent over a network, speech recognition, andinterfaces to special external devices, such as robotic arms and medicalscanning equipment that repeatedly perform some complex sequence ofoperations that are more efficiently implemented in hardware.

Computer system 400 also includes one or more instances of acommunications interface 470 coupled to bus 410. Communication interface470 provides a two-way communication coupling to a variety of externaldevices that operate with their own processors, such as printers,scanners and external disks. In general the coupling is with a networklink 478 that is connected to a local network 480 to which a variety ofexternal devices with their own processors are connected. For example,communication interface 470 may be a parallel port or a serial port or auniversal serial bus (USB) port on a personal computer. In someembodiments, communications interface 470 is an integrated servicesdigital network (ISDN) card or a digital subscriber line (DSL) card or atelephone modem that provides an information communication connection toa corresponding type of telephone line. In some embodiments, acommunication interface 470 is a cable modem that converts signals onbus 410 into signals for a communication connection over a coaxial cableor into optical signals for a communication connection over a fiberoptic cable. As another example, communications interface 470 may be alocal area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connectionto a compatible LAN, such as Ethernet. Wireless links may also beimplemented. For wireless links, the communications interface 470 sendsand receives electrical, acoustic or electromagnetic signals, includinginfrared and optical signals, that carry information streams, such asdigital data. Such signals are examples of carrier waves.

The term computer-readable medium is used herein to refer to any mediumthat participates in providing instructions to processor 402 forexecution. Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limitedto, non-volatile media, volatile media and transmission media.Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, suchas storage device 408. Volatile media include, for example, dynamicmemory 404. Transmission media include, for example, coaxial cables,copper wire, fiber optic cables, and waves that travel through spacewithout wires or cables, such as acoustic waves and electromagneticwaves, including radio, optical and infrared waves. Signals that aretransmitted over transmission media are herein called carrier waves.

Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, or any othermagnetic medium, a compact disk ROM (CD-ROM), or any other opticalmedium, punch cards, paper tape, or any other physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM(EPROM), a FLASH-EPROM, or any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrierwave, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

Network link 478 typically provides information communication throughone or more networks to other devices that use or process theinformation. For example, network link 478 may provide a connectionthrough local network 480 to a host computer 482 or to equipment 484operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). ISP equipment 484 inturn provides data communication services through the public, world-widepacket-switching communication network of networks now commonly referredto as the Internet 490. A computer called a server 492 connected to theInternet provides a service in response to information received over theInternet. For example, server 492 provides information representingvideo data for presentation at display 414.

The invention is related to the use of computer system 400 forimplementing the techniques described herein. According to oneembodiment of the invention, those techniques are performed by computersystem 400 in response to processor 402 executing one or more sequencesof one or more instructions contained in memory 404. Such instructions,also called software and program code, may be read into memory 404 fromanother computer-readable medium such as storage device 408. Executionof the sequences of instructions contained in memory 404 causesprocessor 402 to perform the method steps described herein. Inalternative embodiments, hardware, such as application specificintegrated circuit 420, may be used in place of or in combination withsoftware to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the inventionare not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The signals transmitted over network link 478 and other networks throughcommunications interface 470, which carry information to and fromcomputer system 400, are exemplary forms of carrier waves. Computersystem 400 can send and receive information, including program code,through the networks 480, 490 among others, through network link 478 andcommunications interface 470. In an example using the Internet 490, aserver 492 transmits program code for a particular application,requested by a message sent from computer 400, through Internet 490, ISPequipment 484, local network 480 and communications interface 470. Thereceived code may be executed by processor 402 as it is received, or maybe stored in storage device 408 or other non-volatile storage for laterexecution, or both. In this manner, computer system 400 may obtainapplication program code in the form of a carrier wave.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequence of instructions or data or both to processor 402 forexecution. For example, instructions and data may initially be carriedon a magnetic disk of a remote computer such as host 482. The remotecomputer loads the instructions and data into its dynamic memory andsends the instructions and data over a telephone line using a modem. Amodem local to the computer system 400 receives the instructions anddata on a telephone line and uses an infra-red transmitter to convertthe instructions and data to an infra-red signal, a carrier wave servingas the network link 478. An infrared detector serving as communicationsinterface 470 receives the instructions and data carried in the infraredsignal and places information representing the instructions and dataonto bus 410. Bus 410 carries the information to memory 404 from whichprocessor 402 retrieves and executes the instructions using some of thedata sent with the instructions. The instructions and data received inmemory 404 may optionally be stored on storage device 408, either beforeor after execution by the processor 402.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evidentthat various modifications and changes may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Thespecification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for scheduling a conference amongmultiple persons, comprising: receiving quorum data that indicates aquorum for a particular conference; receiving availability data thatindicates availability of a plurality of persons who satisfy the quorumfor attending the particular conference; determining a plurality ofproposed locations that support remote conferencing among the pluralityof persons for the particular conference based on the availability dataand the quorum data; and configuring a network node based on theplurality of proposed locations that support remote conferencing amongthe plurality of persons who satisfy the quorum.
 2. The method of claim1, further comprising: receiving data indicating a type of remoteconferencing, and determining the plurality of proposed locations basedon the type of remote conferencing.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving data indicating at least one of a data remoteconference, an audio remote conference, a video remote conference, and amulti-media remote conference.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving data indicating a remote conference using at leastone of a circuit-switching network, a packet-switching network, and acellular telephone network.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein theavailability data indicates whether a particular person of the pluralityof persons can communicate remotely at a time within a duration of aprevious commitment for the particular person.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the availability data indicates whether a particular person ofthe plurality of persons can communicate using a particular mode ofcommunication at a time within a duration of a previous commitment forthe particular person.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:determining a time for the particular conference with the particularperson during the previous commitment; and conducting the particularconference using the particular mode of communication with theparticular person.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the particular modeof communication is an in-person meeting.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein the particular mode of communication is remote communication.10. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability data includespresence data based on the current location of at least one of theplurality of persons who satisfy the quorum.
 11. An apparatus forscheduling a conference among multiple persons, comprising: a networkinterface that is coupled to a network for communicating one or morepacket flows therewith; a processor; and one or more stored sequences ofinstructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto perform: receiving quorum data that indicates a quorum for aparticular conference; receiving availability data that indicatesavailability of a plurality of persons who satisfy the quorum forattending the particular conference; determining a plurality of proposedlocations that support remote conferencing among the plurality ofpersons for the particular conference based on the availability data andthe quorum data; and configuring a network node based on the pluralityof proposed locations that support remote conferencing among theplurality of persons who satisfy the quorum.
 12. The apparatus of claim11, wherein the one or more stored sequences of instructions cause theprocessor to perform: receiving data indicating a type of remoteconferencing, and determining the plurality of proposed locations basedon the type of remote conferencing.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12,wherein the one or more stored sequences of instructions cause theprocessor to perform: receiving data indicating at least one of a dataremote conference, an audio remote conference, a video remoteconference, and a multi-media remote conference.
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 12, wherein the one or more stored sequences of instructions causethe processor to perform: receiving data indicating a remote conferenceusing at least one of a circuit-switching network and a packet-switchingnetwork.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the availability dataincludes receiving data that indicates whether a particular person ofthe plurality of persons can communicate remotely at a time within aduration of a previous commitment for the particular person.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the availability data that indicatesavailability of a plurality of persons who satisfy the quorum forattending the particular conference and whether a particular person ofthe plurality of persons can communicate using a particular mode ofcommunication at a time within a duration of a previous commitment forthe particular person.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, furthercomprising: determining a time for the particular conference with theparticular person during the previous commitment; and conducting theparticular conference using remote communications with the particularperson.
 18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the particular mode ofcommunication is an in-person meeting.
 19. The apparatus of claim 11,wherein the particular mode of communication is remote communication.20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computerexecutable instructions operable to: receive quorum data that indicatesa quorum for a particular conference; receive availability data thatindicates availability of a plurality of persons who satisfy the quorumfor attending the particular conference; determine a plurality ofproposed locations that support remote conferencing among the pluralityof persons for the particular conference based on the availability dataand the quorum data; and configure a network node based on the pluralityof proposed locations that support remote conferencing among theplurality of persons who satisfy the quorum.
 21. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein a proposed location is alocation in a vicinity where the plurality of persons who satisfy thequorum for the particular conference are located.